LITMIR.BIZ

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the trolley out of the room and disappeared down the hall.

      At precisely 1:30 p.m. more visitors showed up; the chief and two suits. I recognized the taller man. He was a young assistant district attorney eager to prove himself by the name of Francis Harping.

      Miles and I had worked a case with him about six months back. Miles didn’t like him and neither did I. He was an arrogant self-assured bastard who was only motivated by politics. As they say in Texas, he was all hat and no cattle. I didn’t recognize the second man with the mawkish grin, assumed he had to be the guy from Internal Affairs. The chief asked how I was doing and then quickly introduced the suits. The guy from IA went by the name of Mike Alcala. While the chief was talking, I recalled an old saying from back home in Bayou Cane, ‘Never waste time with introductions to a rat’. Unfortunately I couldn’t share that sentiment with them. I’d have to sit back and play it cool, couldn’t tip my hand.

      “Pleased to meet you gentlemen. Before we start, how’s Abbe holding up?”

      “Not good Mooney. It hit her pretty hard,” the chief responded.

      “Who broke the news to her?”

      “It was my responsibility, I did. I took Mavis over with me. In fact she’s been with Abbe ever since helping out.”

      “Thank Mavis for me. She’s a good kid. Now, what can I do for you gentlemen?”

      My straightforward approach seemed to catch them off guard; Harping and Alcala just looked at one another while the chief cleared his throat and then nervously muttered, “We’ve got some questions for you about the other night, if you’re up to it.”

      “I feel fine, Chief, ask away.”

      The chief then turned to Harping, “Why don’t you lead off?”

      Harping nodded and then stepped a little closer to the edge of the bed while the chief just slinked back against the side wall of the room. I’d known the chief for a good ten years and could sense his nervousness: he didn’t want to be here but then neither did I. Harping was now perched above me on the side of the bed looking down on me like some type of ghoul with a sinister grin. Harping seemed to be enjoying this.

      “Detective Law, why were you and Detective Bowman, in that part of town on Saturday night, the 2rd of February?”

      “We’ve been on the trail of the serial killer for the past five weeks. We had a hunch that the killer would show up in that part of town.”

      “What hunch was that?”

      “We thought there was a pattern to his killings.”

      “What pattern?”

      “After mapping out the previous crime scenes, we concluded he might have been killing his victims in a pattern that would result in a five pointed star when connected.”

      “A star? Now I’ve heard it all.”

      “Look it was a shot. We had nothing better to go on.”

      “Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?”

      “Ridiculous or not, that’s why we were there.”

      “Okay, Detective Law. Did you share your hunch with any of your fellow detectives or the chief?”

      “Just Miles, and a junior officer named Mavis Poladin.”

      “Then the answer is no.”

      “No, I did not tell any other senior detectives or the chief.”

      “I understand from the chief that he had you and your partner in his office before you went out on your shift.”

      “That’s correct.”

      “Didn’t he ask you if you had any leads at that time?”

      “Yes sir, he did.”

      “Why didn’t you let him in on your hunch at that time?”

      “We came up with our theory after we left his office.”

      “Who is the we you are referring to?”

      “Miles, Mavis Poladin and myself.”

      “I see. Now, tell me what happened.”

      “Pardon me?”

      “I’m sorry Detective Law. About the events leading up to the shooting.”

      “Miles and I had been on stakeout for about three and a half hours. It was strictly routine. A little before 2 a.m., Miles caught a glimpse of a shadow over by the alleyway across the street. He went over to investigate.”

      “Why didn’t you go with him?”

      “I asked Miles if he wanted any back up but he said no. He assumed it was just a kid or a bum that we had seen earlier that night.”

      “I find it a little strange that you didn’t back him up.”

      “Obviously you’ve never been out on the streets, Mr. Harping. Miles was an experienced detective. If he thought it was routine, that was good enough for me. At the time it made sense for one of us to stay with the cruiser and monitor the radio.”

      “Go on, what happened next?”

      “Miles walked across the street and disappeared around the corner. Then I heard a shot go off and caught sight of the muzzle flash in the alleyway.”

      Harping was feverishly scribbling my responses on a yellow pad. Without looking up from the pad he shot out his next question. “How did you know it was gunfire?”

      What a stupid question. I wanted to get out of the bed and put a nickel in his jukebox, but I had to remain cool, couldn’t tip my hand on what the Sarge had told me. Although he was pushing me to my snapping point, I kept my composure and responded in a measured tone. “Ten years of experience.”

      Harping looked up from the pad and nodded, “Continue.”

      “As I said, as soon as I heard the shot I grabbed the car radio and called it in.”

      “Why didn’t you wait for the dispatcher to confirm your location?”

      “I felt time was of the essence. I made a judgement call.”

      “What happened next?”

      “As I approached the alleyway, I caught sight of Miles down on the ground. I immediately raced to his side. He was bleeding from the head but very much alive. Then I got cold cocked from behind.”

      Turning to the suit from Internal Affairs, Harping barked, “Mike, maybe you’ve got some questions for Detective Law.”

      An icy current was now in the room. Harping had set the tone but at least his questions had been civil. I took the measure of Alcala as he moved closer to the bed. I’d seen plenty like him before, cocky but inept. Then he started to speak in a raspy tone. “Yeah, I’ve got a lot of em. First, why did you call in 13th Street instead of 31st?”

      “Did I? Then how the hell did they get to 31st Street.”

      “An anonymous phone call from a pay phone. Regarding your first question; yeah you did call in 13th Street instead of 31st. We’ve got ya’ on tape.”

      “In the heat of the moment, I made a mistake. Did you ever think the real killer could have called it in. Next question.”

      “Why didn’t you wait for confirmation from the dispatcher?”

      “I’ve already answered that question.”

      “So you did. How do you explain the drugs found in your system?”

      “I have no idea.”

      “Detective Law, don’t you have a history of drug addiction?”

      “A long time ago. I’ve been clean for over eleven years.”

      “You

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